Turkish language

All you want to know about Turkish language

See Turkish alphabet for a pronunciation guide

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Standard Turkish
Bilabial Labio-
dental		 Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosives p b t̪ d̪ c ɟ k ɡ
Nasal m n
Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ ɣ h
Affricate tʃ dʒ
Tap ɾ
Approximant j
Lateral ɫ l

The phoneme /ɣ/ (usually referred to as yumuşak g ("soft g")), ğ in Turkish orthography, actually represents a rather weak front-velar or palatal approximant between front vowels. It never occurs at the beginning of a word, but always follows a vowel. When word-final or preceding another consonant, it lengthens the preceding vowel.[29]

In native Turkic words, the sounds /c/, /ɟ/, and /l/ are in complementary distribution with /k/, /g/, and /ɫ/; the former set occurs adjacent to front vowels and the latter adjacent to back vowels. The distribution of these phonemes is often unpredictable, however, in foreign borrowings and proper nouns. In such words, /c/, /ɟ/, and /l/ often occur with back vowels:[30] some examples are given below.

When a vowel is added to many nouns ending with postvocalic <k>, the <k> becomes <ğ> by consonant alternation. A similar alternation applies to certain loan-words ending in <p> and <t>, which become <b> and <d>, respectively, with the addition of a vowel.[31] This is because the final //ɡ//, //d//, and //b// consonants of these words lose their voicing when not followed by a vowel.

Vowels

IPA chart for Turkish vowels
Image:Turkish vowel chart.png

The vowels of the Turkish language are, in their alphabetical order, a, e, ı, i, o, ö, u, and ü. Undotted <ı> is the close back unrounded vowel [ɯ].[32] There are no diphthongs in Turkish; when two vowels come together, which occurs rarely and only with loanwords, each vowel retains its individual sound. However, a slight diphthong can occur when two vowels surround a yumuşak g. For example, the word soğuk ("cold") can be pronounced /soʊk/ (resembling the English soak) by some speakers.

Vowel harmony

For more details on this topic, see Vowel harmony.

The Turkish vowel system can be considered as being two-dimensional, where vowels are characterised by two features: front/back and rounded/unrounded. Vowel harmony is the principle by which a native Turkish word incorporates either exclusively back vowels (a, ı, o, and u) or exclusively front vowels (e, i, ö, and ü). The pattern of vowels is shown in the table below.[33]

Turkish vowels
Front Back
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
High i ü ı u
Low e ö a o

Grammatical affixes have "a chameleon-like quality",[34] and obey one of the following patterns of vowel harmony:

  • twofold (-e/-a):[35] the locative suffix, for example, is -de after front vowels and -da after back vowels. The notation -de² is a convenient shorthand for this pattern.
  • fourfold (-i/-ı/-ü/-u): the genitive suffix, for example, is -in or -ın after unrounded vowels (front or back respectively); and -ün or -un after the corresponding rounded vowels. In this case, the shorthand notation -in4 is used.

The following examples, based on the copula -dir4 ("[it] is"), illustrate the principles of vowel harmony in practice: Türkiye'dir ("it is Turkey"),[36] kapıdır ("it is the door"), bu gündür ("it is the day"), paltodur ("it is the coat").

There are some exceptions to the rules of vowel harmony. In compound words, the vowels need not harmonize between the constituent words of the compound. Forms like bu+gün ("today") or baş+kent ("capital") are permissible. In addition, vowel harmony does not apply in loanwords and some invariant affixes, such as -yor (present tense) and -bil- (potential). Some loanwords do, however, exhibit partial or even complete vowel harmony (e.g. mümkün "possible" < Arabic mumkin; and dürbün "binoculars" < Persian dūrbīn).[37] There are also a few native Turkish words that do not follow the rule, such as anne ("mother"). In such words, suffixes harmonize with the final vowel: thus annedir ("she is a mother"). Many loanwords from Arabic and French, however, take front-vowel suffixes after final back vowels: for example halsiz < hal + -siz4 "listless", meçhuldür < meçhul + -dir4 "it is unknown", harfler < harf + -ler² "(alphabetical) letters" (instead of the expected *halsız, *meçhuldur and *harflar).

The road sign in the photograph above illustrates several of these features:

  • a native compound which does not obey vowel harmony: Orta+köy ("middle village"—a place name)
  • a loanword also violating vowel harmony: viyadük ("viaduct" < French viaduc)
  • the possessive suffix -i4 harmonizing with the final vowel (and softening the k by consonant alternation): viyadüğü

Stress

Stress is usually on the last syllable.[29] Exceptions include some suffix combinations and loanwords, particularly from Italian and Greek, as well as many proper names. While such loanwords are usually stressed on the penultimate syllable ([ɫoˈkanta] lokanta "restaurant" or [isˈcele] iskele "quay"), the stress of proper names is less predictable ([isˈtanbuɫ] İstanbul, [ˈaŋkaɾa] Ankara).

Grammar

Main article: Turkish grammar

Turkish is an agglutinative language and frequently uses affixes, or endings.[38] One word can have many affixes and these can also be used to create new words, such as creating a verb from a noun, or a noun from a verbal root (see the section on Word formation). Most affixes indicate the grammatical function of the word.[39] The only native prefixes are alliterative intensifying syllables used with adjectives or adverbs: for example sımsıcak ("boiling hot" < sıcak) and masmavi ("bright blue" < mavi).[40]

The extensive use of affixes can give rise to long words. It is jokingly said that the longest Turkish word is Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınız, meaning "You are said to be one of those that we couldn't manage to convert to a Czechoslovak". This example is of course contrived; but long words do frequently occur in normal Turkish, as in this heading of a newspaper obituary column: Bayramlaşamadıklarımız (Bayram [festival]-Recipr-Impot-Partic-Plur-PossPl1; "Those of our number with whom we cannot exchange the season's greetings").[41]

Nouns

There is no definite article in Turkish, but definiteness of the object is implied when the accusative ending is used (see below). Turkish nouns decline by taking case-endings, as in Latin. There are six noun cases in Turkish, with all the endings following vowel harmony (shown in the table using the shorthand superscript notation. The plural marker -ler² immediately follows the noun before any case or other affixes (e.g. köylerin "of the villages").

Case Ending Examples Meaning
köy "village" ağaç "tree"
Nominative Ø (none) köy ağaç (the) village/tree
Genitive -in4 köyün ağacın the village's/tree's
of the village/tree
Dative -e² köye ağaca to the village/tree
Accusative -i4 köyü ağacı the village/tree
Ablative -den² köyden ağaçtan from the village/tree
Locative -de² köyde ağaçta in the village/on the tree

The accusative case marker is used only for definite objects; compare ağaç gördük "we saw a tree" with ağacı gördük "we saw the tree".[42] The plural marker -ler² is not used when a class or category is meant: ağaç gördük can equally well mean "we saw trees [as we walked through the forest]"—as opposed to ağaçları gördük "we saw the trees [in question]".

The declension of ağaç illustrates two important features of Turkish phonology: consonant assimilation in suffixes (ağaçtan, ağaçta) and voicing of final consonants before vowels (ağacın, ağaca, ağacı).

Additionally, nouns can take suffixes that assign person: for example -imiz4, "our". With the addition of the copula (for example -im4, "I am") complete sentences can be formed. The interrogative particle mi4 immediately follows the word being questioned: köye mi? "[going] to the village?", ağaç mı? "[is it a] tree?".

Turkish English
ev (the) house
evler (the) houses
evin your house
eviniz your (pl./formal) house
evim my house
evimde at my house
evlerinizin of your houses
Evinizdeyim. I am at your house.
Evinizde miyim? Am I at your house?

The Turkish personal pronouns in the nominative case are ben (1s), sen (2s), o (3s), biz (1pl), siz (2pl, or formal/polite 2s), and onlar (3pl). They are declined regularly with some exceptions: benim (1s gen.); bizim (1pl gen.); bana (1s dat.); sana (2s dat.); and the oblique forms of o use the root on. All other pronouns (reflexive kendi and so on) are declined regularly.

Linking nouns (Tamlama)

Two nouns, or groups of nouns, may be joined in either of two ways:

  • definite (possessive) compound (belirtili tamlama). Eg Türkiye'nin sesi "the voice of Turkey (radio station)": the voice belonging to Turkey. Here the relationship is shown by the genitive ending -in4 added to the first noun; the second noun has the third-person suffix -(s)i4.
  • indefinite (qualifying) compound (belirtisiz tamlama). Eg Türkiye Cumhuriyeti "Turkey-Republic[43] = the Republic of Turkey": not the republic belonging to Turkey, but the Republic that is Turkey. Here the first noun has no ending; but the second noun has the ending -(s)i4—the same as in definite compounds.

The following table illustrates these principles.[44] In some cases the constituents of the compounds are themselves compounds: these subsidiary compounds are marked with [square brackets].


Linked nouns and noun groups
Definite (possessive) Indefinite (qualifier) Complement Meaning
kimsenin yanıtı nobody's answer
kimse yanıtı the answer "nobody"
Atatürk'ün evi Atatürk's house
Atatürk Bulvarı Atatürk Boulevard (named after, not belonging to, Atatürk)
Orhan'ın adı Orhan's name
Orhan adı the name "Orhan"
R sessizi the consonant r
[R sessizi]nin söylenişi pronunciation of the consonant r
Türk [Dil Kurumu] Turkish language-society
[Türk Dili] Dergisi Turkish-language review
Ford [aile arabası] Ford family car
Ford'un [aile arabası] (Mr) Ford's family car
[Ford ailesi]nin arabası the Ford family's car[45]
Ankara [Kız Lisesi][46] Ankara Girls' School
[yıl sonu] sınavları year-end examinations
Bulgaristan'ın [İstanbul Başkonsolosluğu] the Istanbul Consulate-General of Bulgaria (located in Istanbul, but belonging to Bulgaria)
[ [İstanbul Üniversitesi] [Edebiyat Fakültesi] ] [ [Türk Edebiyatı] Profesörü] Professor of Turkish Literature in the Faculty of Literature of the University of Istanbul
ne oldum delisi "what-have-I-become!"[47] madman = parvenu who gives himself airs

As the last example shows, the qualifying expression may be a substantival sentence rather than a noun or noun group.[48]

Adjectives

Turkish adjectives are not declined. However most adjectives can also be used as nouns, in which case they are declined: e.g. güzel ("beautiful") → güzeller ("(the) beautiful ones / people"). Used attributively, adjectives precede the nouns they modify. The adjectives var ("existent") and yok ("non-existent") are used in many cases where English would use "there is" or "have", e.g. süt yok ("there is no milk", lit. "(the) milk (is) non-existent"); the construction "noun 1-GEN noun 2-POSS var/yok" can be translated "noun 1 has/doesn't have noun 2"; imparatorun elbisesi yok "the emperor has no clothes" ("(the) emperor-of clothes-his non-existent"); kedimin ayakkabıları yoktu ("my cat had no shoes", lit. "cat-my-of shoe-plur.-its non-existent-past tense").

Verbs

See also: Turkish copula

Turkish verbs indicate person. They can be made negative, potential ("can"), or impotential ("cannot"). Furthermore, Turkish verbs show tense (present, past, inferential, future, and aorist), mood (conditional, imperative, necessitative, and optative), and aspect. Negation is expressed by the infix -me²- immediately following the stem.

Turkish English
gel- (to) come
gelebil- (to) be able to come
gelme- not (to) come
geleme- (to) be unable to come
gelememiş Apparently (s)he couldn't come
gelebilecek (s)he'll be able to come
gelebilirsen if you can come
gelinir (passive) one comes, people come

All Turkish verbs are conjugated in the same way, except for the irregular and defective verb i-, the Turkish copula, which can be used in compound forms (the shortened form is called an enclitic): Gelememişti = Gelememiş idi = Gelememiş + i- + -di

Participles

Turkish has several participles, including present (with the ending -en²), future (-ecek²), indirect/inferential past (-miş4), and aorist (-er² or -ir4). These forms can function as either adjectives or nouns: oynamayan çocuklar "children who do not play", oynamayanlar "those who do not play"; okur yazar "reader-writer = literate", okur yazarlar "literates".

The most important function of participles is to form modifying phrases equivalent to the relative clauses found in most European languages. The participles used in these constructions are the future (-ecek²) and an older form (-dik4), which covers both present and past meanings.[49] The use of these "personal" or "relative" participles is illustrated in the following table, in which the examples are presented according to the grammatical case which would be seen in the equivalent English relative clause.[50]

English equivalent Example Translation
Case of relative pronoun Pronoun Literal Idiomatic
Nominative who, which/that şimdi konuşan adam "now speaking man" the man (who is) now speaking
Genitive whose (nom.) babası şimdi konuşan adam "father-his now speaking man" the man whose father is now speaking
whose (acc.) babasını dün gördüğüm adam "father-his-ACC yesterday seen-my man" the man whose father I saw yesterday
at whose resimlerine baktığımız ressam "pictures-his-to looked-our artist" the artist whose pictures we looked at
of which muhtarı seçildiği köy "mayor-its been-chosen-his village" the village of which he was elected mayor
of which muhtarı seçilmek istediği köy "mayor-its to-be-chosen wishing-his village" the village of which he wishes to be elected mayor
Remaining cases (incl. prepositions) whom, which yazdığım mektup "written-my letter" the letter (which) I wrote
from which çıktığımız kapı "emerged-our door" the door from which we emerged
on which geldikleri vapur "come-their ship" the ship they came on
which + subordinate clause yaklaştığını anladığı hapishane günleri "approach-their-ACC understood-his prison days-its" the prison days (which) he knew were approaching[51][52]

Word order

Word order in simple Turkish sentences is generally Subject Object Verb, as in Korean and Latin, but unlike English. In more complex sentences, the basic rule is that the qualifier precedes the qualified: this principle includes, as an important special case, the participial modifiers discussed above. The definite precedes the indefinite: thus çocuğa hikâyeyi anlattı "she told the child the story", but hikâyeyi bir çocuğa anlattı "she told the story to a child".[53]

It is possible to alter the word order to stress the importance of a certain word or phrase. The main rule is that the word before the verb has the stress without exception. For example, if one wants to say "Hakan went to school" with a stress on the word "school" (okul, the indirect object) it would be "Hakan okula gitti". If the stress is to be placed on "Hakan" (the subject), it would be "Okula Hakan gitti" which means "it's Hakan who went to school".

Vocabulary

Main article: Turkish vocabulary
Origin of the words in Turkish vocabulary
Origin of the words in Turkish vocabulary

The 2005 edition of Güncel Türkçe Sözlük, the official dictionary of the Turkish language published by Turkish Language Association, contains 104,481 entries, of which about 14% are of foreign origin.[54] Among the most significant foreign contributors to Turkish vocabulary are Arabic, French, Persian, Italian, English, and Greek.[55]

Word formation

Turkish extensively uses agglutination to form new words from nouns and verbal stems. The majority of Turkish words originate from the application of derivative suffixes to a relatively small set of core vocabulary.

An example set of words derived from a substantive root:

Turkish Components English Word class
göz göz eye Noun
gözlük göz + -lük eyeglasses Noun
gözlükçü göz + -lük + -çü optician Noun
gözlükçülük göz + -lük + -çü + -lük optician's trade Noun
gözlem göz + -lem observation Noun
gözlemci göz + -lem + -ci observer Noun
gözle göz + -le observe Verb (order)
gözlemek göz + -le + -mek to observe Verb (infinitive)

Another example, starting from a verbal root:

Turkish Components English Word class
yat- yat- lie down Verb (order)
yatmak yat-mak to lie down Verb (infinitive)
yatık yat- + -(ı)k leaning Adjective
yatak yat- + -ak bed, place to sleep Noun
yatay yat- + -ay horizontal Adjective
yatkın yat- + -gın inclined to; stale (from lying too long) Adjective
yatır- yat- + -(ı)r- lay down Verb (order)
yatırmak yat- + -(ı)r-mak to lay down Verb (infinitive)
yatırım yat- + -(ı)r- + -(ı)m laying down; deposit, investment Noun
yatırımcı yat- + -(ı)r- + -(ı)m + -cı depositor, investor Noun

New words are also frequently formed by compounding two existing words into a new one, as in German. A few examples of compound words are given below:

Turkish English Constituent words Literal meaning
Pazartesi Monday Pazar ("Sunday") and ertesi ("after") after Sunday
bilgisayar computer bilgi ("information") and say- ("to count") information counter
gökdelen skyscraper gök ("sky") and del- ("to pierce") sky piercer
başparmak thumb baş ("prime") and parmak ("finger") primary finger
önyargı prejudice ön ("before") and yargı ("splitting; judgement") fore-judging

Writing system

Main article: Turkish alphabet
Atatürk introducing the new Turkish alphabet to the people of Sinop. September 20, 1928. (Cover of the French L'Illustration magazine)
Atatürk introducing the new Turkish alphabet to the people of Sinop. September 20, 1928. (Cover of the French L'Illustration magazine)

Turkish is written using a modified version of the Latin alphabet introduced in 1928 by Atatürk to replace the Arabic-based Ottoman Turkish alphabet. The Ottoman alphabet marked only three different vowels—long ā, ū and ī—and included several redundant consonants, such as variants of z (which were distinguished in Arabic but not in Turkish). The omission of short vowels in the Arabic script was claimed to make it particularly unsuitable for Turkish, which has eight vowels.

The reform of the script was an important step in the cultural reforms of the period. The task of preparing the new alphabet and selecting the necessary modifications for sounds specific to Turkish was entrusted to a Language Commission composed of prominent linguists, academics, and writers. The introduction of the new Turkish alphabet was supported by public education centers opened throughout the country, cooperation with publishing companies, and encouragement by Atatürk himself, who toured the country teaching the new letters to the public.[56] As a result, there was a dramatic increase in literacy from its original Third World levels.[57]

Latin was applied to the Turkish language for educational purposes even before the 20th century reform. Instances include a 1635 Latin-Albanian dictionary by Frang Bardhi, who also incorporated several sayings in the Turkish language, as an appendix to his work (e.g. alma agatsdan irak duschamas[58] – 'An apple does not fall far from its tree').

Turkish now has an alphabet suited to the sounds of the language: the spelling is largely phonetic, with one letter corresponding to each phoneme. Most of the letters are used approximately as in English, the main exceptions being <c>, which denotes [dʒ] (<j> being used for the [ʒ] found in Persian and European loans); and the undotted <ı>, representing [ɯ]. As in German, <ö> and <ü> represent [œ] and [y]. The letter <ğ>, in principle, denotes [ɣ] but has the property of lengthening the preceding vowel and assimilating any subsequent vowel. The letters <ş> and <ç> represent [ʃ] and [tʃ], respectively. A circumflex is written over back vowels following <k>, <g>, or <l> when these consonants represent [c], [ɟ], and [l]—almost exclusively in Arabic and Persian loans.[59] An apostrophe is used to separate proper nouns from any suffixes: eg İstanbul'da 'in Istanbul'.

The specifically Turkish letters and spellings described above are illustrated in this table:

Turkish spelling Pronunciation Meaning
Cağaloğlu ˈdʒaːɫoːɫu [İstanbul district]
çalıştığı tʃaɫɯʃtɯˈɣɯ where/that s/he works/worked
müjde myʒˈde good news
lâzım laˈzɯm necessary
mahkûm mahˈcum condemned

Sample

Dostlar Beni Hatırlasın by Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu (1894–1973), a minstrel and highly regarded poet in the Turkish folk literature tradition.

Orthography IPA Translation
Ben giderim adım kalır ben ɟid̪eɾim ad̪ɯm kaɫɯɾ After I pass, my name remains
Dostlar beni hatırlasın d̪ost̪ɫaɾ beni hatɯɾɫasɯn May the friends remember me
Düğün olur bayram gelir d̪yjyn oɫuɾ bajɾam ɟeliɾ Weddings happen, holidays come
Dostlar beni hatırlasın d̪ostɫaɾ beni hatɯɾɫasɯn May the friends remember me

Can kafeste durmaz uçar dʒan kafest̪e d̪uɾmaz utʃaɾ Soul flies from the cage
Dünya bir han konan göçer d̪yjja biɾ han konan ɟœtʃeɾ World is an inn, settlers depart
Ay dolanır yıllar geçer aj d̪oɫanɯɾ jɯɫːaɾ ɟetʃeɾ The moon wanders, years go by
Dostlar beni hatırlasın d̪ostɫaɾ beni hatɯɾɫasɯn May the friends remember me

Can bedenden ayrılacak dʒan bed̪end̪en ajɾɯɫadʒask Body will be deprived of life
Tütmez baca yanmaz ocak t̪yt̪mez badʒa janmaz odʒak Hearth won't burn, smoke won't rise
Selam olsun kucak kucak selaːm oɫsun kudʒak kudʒak By armfuls, salutes I pass
Dostlar beni hatırlasın d̪ostɫaɾ beni hatɯɾɫasɯn May the friends remember me

Açar solar türlü çiçek atʃaɾ solaɾ t̪yɾly tʃitʃec Many blooms thrive and fade
Kimler gülmüş kim gülecek cimleɾ ɟylmyʃ cim ɟyledʒec Who had laughed, who'll be glad
Murat yalan ölüm gerçek muɾat jaɫan œlym ɟeɾtʃec Desire's lie, real is death
Dostlar beni hatırlasın d̪ostɫaɾ beni hatɯɾɫasɯn May the friends remember me

Gün ikindi akşam olur ɟyn icindi akʃam oɫuɾ Into evening will turn the days
Gör ki başa neler gelir ɟœɾ ci baʃa neleɾ ɟeliɾ Behold what soon will take place
Veysel gider adı kalır βejsel ɟideɾ ad̪ɯ kaɫɯɾ Veysel departs, his name remains
Dostlar beni hatırlasın d̪ostɫaɾ beni hatɯɾɫasɯn May the friends remember me

See also

Notes

Details of the sources cited only by the author's name are given in full in the References section.

  1. ^ Syrian Turks.
  2. ^ Taylor & Francis Group (2003). Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia 2004 (in English). Routledge, p. 114. ISBN 978-1857431872. Retrieved on 2008-03-26. 
  3. ^ Ethnologue total speakers retrieved 27 May 2008
  4. ^ Ethnologue total speakers
  5. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Language Family Trees - Altaic. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  6. ^ a b c Katzner
  7. ^ Language Materials Project: Turkish. UCLA International Institute, Center for World Languages (February 2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
  8. ^ Bazin (1975), 37-45
  9. ^ Alyılmaz, Cengiz (2006). "On the Bugut Inscription and Mausoleum Complex", in Matteo, C., Paola, R., Gianroberto, S.: Eran ud Aneran. Studies presented to Boris Il'ic Marsak on the occasion of his 70/th birthday (PDF), Venice: Cafoscarina. ISBN 8875431051. Retrieved on 2007-06-28. 
  10. ^ Ishjatms
  11. ^ Findley
  12. ^ Soucek
  13. ^ Taeuber, Irene B. (April 1958). "Population and Modernization in Turkey". Population Index 24 (2): 110. doi:10.2307/2731516. OCLC 41483131. Retrieved on 2007-04-27. Lay summary – JSTOR. 
  14. ^ See Lewis (2002) for a thorough treatment of the Turkish language reform.
  15. ^ a b Turkish Language Association. Türk Dil Kurumu - Tarihçe (History of the Turkish Language Association). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.(Turkish)
  16. ^ See Lewis (2002): 2–3 for the first two translations. For the third see Bedi Yazıcı. Nutuk: Özgün metin ve çeviri (Atatürk's Speech: original text and translation). Retrieved on 2007-09-28.(Turkish)
  17. ^ Mütercim Asım (1799). Burhân-ı Katı Tercemesi. (Turkish)
  18. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Report for language code:tur (Turkish). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  19. ^ Center for Studies on Turkey, University of Essen (2003). The European Turks: Gross Domestic Product, Working Population, Entrepreneurs and Household Data (PDF). Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
  20. ^ TNS Opinion & Social (February 2006), Special Eurobarometer 243 / Wave 64.3: Europeans and their Languages, European Commission Directorate of General Press and Communication, <http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf>. Retrieved on 28 March 2007 
  21. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Report for language code:kmr (Kurdish). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  22. ^ The name TDK itself exemplifies this process. The words tetkik and cemiyet in the original name are both Arabic loanwords (the final -i of cemiyeti being a Turkish possessive suffix); kurum is a native Turkish word based on the verb kurmak, "set up, found".
  23. ^ Johanson, Lars (2001). "Discoveries on the Turkic linguistic map" (PDF). Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  24. ^ Özsoy
  25. ^ Akalın, Şükrü Halûk (January 2003). "Türk Dil Kurumu'nun 2002 yılı çalışmaları (Turkish Language Association progress report for 2002)" (PDF). Türk Dili 85 (613). ISSN 1301-465X. Retrieved on 2007-03-18. (Turkish)
  26. ^ Shashi, Shyam Singh (1992). Encyclopaedia of Humanities and Social Sciences (in English). Anmol Publications, p. 47. Retrieved on 2008-03-26. 
  27. ^ Brendemoen, B. (1996), “Phonological Aspects of Greek-Turkish Language Contact in Trabzon”, Conference on Turkish in Contact, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Wassenaar, 5–6 February, 1996 
  28. ^ Vaux, Bert. "Hemshinli: The Forgotten Black Sea Armenians" (PDF). Harvard University. Retrieved on 2007-04-24.
  29. ^ a b Handbook of the IPA, p. 155
  30. ^ Lewis (2001):3-4,6.
  31. ^ The <k>/<ğ> alternation does not usually apply to monosyllabic nouns. Lewis (2001):10.
  32. ^ "Americans will recognize in it the first vowel of Missouri as pronounced by a native of that state." Lewis (2001):13.
  33. ^ Note that this table is essentially the same as the IPA vowel chart shown above: both table and chart indicate the physical location and quality of each vowel.
  34. ^ Lewis (1953):21
  35. ^ For the terms twofold and fourfold, as well as the superscript notation, see Lewis (1953):21–22. In his more recent works Lewis prefers to omit the superscripts, on the grounds that "there is no need for this once the principle has been grasped" (Lewis [2001]:18).
  36. ^ In modern Turkish orthography, an apostrophe is used to separate proper names from any suffixes.
  37. ^ In Lewis's marvellously precise formulation, "The effect of vowel harmony extends to non-Turkish words too, bringing as many vowels as possible of a foreign borrowing into one class, or pressing a foreign borrowing whose vowels happen to be all of one class still further into Turkish form." Lewis (2001): 17.
  38. ^ This section draws heavily on Lewis (2001) and, to a lesser extent, Lewis (1953). Only the most important references are specifically flagged with footnotes.
  39. ^ see Lewis (2001) Ch XIV.
  40. ^ "The prefix, which is accented, is modelled on the first syllable of the simple adjective or adverb but with the substitution of m, p, r, or s for the last consonant of that syllable." Lewis (2001):55. The prefix retains the first vowel of the base form and thus exhibits a form of reverse vowel harmony.
  41. ^ This "splendid word" appeared at the time of Bayram, the festival marking the end of the month of fasting. Lewis (2001):287.
  42. ^ Because it is also used for the indefinite accusative, Lewis uses the term "absolute case" in preference to "nominative". Lewis (2001):28.
  43. ^ Lewis points out that "an indefinite izafet group can be turned into intelligible (though not necessarily normal) English by the use of a hyphen". Lewis (2001): 42.
  44. ^ The examples are taken from Lewis (2001): 41-47.
  45. ^ For other possible permutations of this vehicle, see Lewis (2001):46.
  46. ^ "It is most important to note that the third-person suffix is not repeated though theoretically one might have expected Ankara [Kız Lisesi]si." Lewis (2001): 45 footnote.
  47. ^ Note the similarity with the French phrase un m'as-tu-vu "a have-you-seen-me?", ie a vain and pretentious person.
  48. ^ The term substantival sentence is Lewis's. Lewis(2001:257).
  49. ^ See Lewis (2001):163–165, 260–262 for an exhaustive treatment.
  50. ^ For the terms personal and relative participle see Lewis (1958):98 and Lewis (2001):163 respectively. Most of the examples are taken from Lewis (2001).
  51. ^ This more complex example from Orhan Pamuk's Kar (Snow) contains a nested structure: [which he knew [were approaching]]. Maureen Freely's more succinct and idiomatic translation is the days in prison he knew lay ahead. Note that Pamuk uses the spelling hapisane.
  52. ^ From the perspective of Turkish grammar yaklaştığını anladığı is exactly parallel to babasını gördüğüm ("whose father I saw"), and could therefore be paraphrased as "whose approaching he understood".
  53. ^ Lewis (2001): 239–240.
  54. ^ Güncel Türkçe Sözlük. Turkish Language Association (2005). Retrieved on 2007-03-21.(Turkish)
  55. ^ Türkçe Sözlük (2005)’teki Sözlerin Kökenlerine Ait Sayısal Döküm (Numerical list on the origin of words in Türkçe Sözlük (2005)). Turkish Language Association (2005). Retrieved on 2007-03-21.(Turkish)
  56. ^ Dilaçar, Agop (1977). "Atatürk ve Yazım". Türk Dili 35 (307). ISSN 1301-465X. Retrieved on 2007-03-19. (Turkish)
  57. ^ Coulmas, pp. 243–244
  58. ^ In modern Turkish spelling: elma ağaçtan ırak düşmez.
  59. ^ Lewis (2001):3-7. Note that in these cases the circumflex conveys information about the preceding consonant rather than the vowel over which it is written.

References

Printed sources

On-line sources

Further reading

  • Eyüboğlu, İsmet Zeki (1991). Türk Dilinin Etimoloji Sözlüğü (Etymological Dictionary of the Turkish Language). Sosyal Yayınları, İstanbul. ISBN 975-7384-72-2. (Turkish)
  • Özel, Sevgi; Haldun Özen and Ali Püsküllüoğlu (eds.) (1986). Atatürk'ün Türk Dil Kurumu ve Sonrası (Atatürk's Turkish Language Association and its Legacy). Bilgi Yayınevi, Ankara. OCLC 18836678. (Turkish)
  • Püsküllüoğlu, Ali (2004). Arkadaş Türkçe Sözlük (Arkadaş Turkish Dictionary). Arkadaş Yayınevi, Ankara. ISBN 975-509-053-3. (Turkish)

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v • d • e
Altaic languages
Notes: *Japonic and Korean are not generally recognized as belonging to the Altaic language family. See also Buyeo languages.
v • d • e
Turkic languages
Oghur
Uyghur
Old Turkic†  · Aini²  · Chagatai†  · Ili Turki  · Lop  · Uyghur  · Uzbek
Kypchak
Altay  · Baraba  · Bashkir  · Crimean Tatar¹  · Cuman†  · Karachay-Balkar  · Karaim  · Karakalpak  · Kazakh  · Kipchak†  · Krymchak  · Kumyk  · Kyrgyz  · Nogai  · Old Tatar†  · Tatar  · Urum¹
Oghuz
Arghu
Northeastern
Chulym  · Dolgan  · Fuyü Gïrgïs  · Khakas  · Shor  · Tofa  · Tuvan  · Western Yugur  · Sakha/Yakut
Notes: